Phi Beta Interrogator

When he vetoed the Intelligence Authorization Act, last month, a measure which would require that the Central Intelligence Agency adhere to the principles laid out in the Army Field Manual which bans waterboarding, and other so-called enhanced alternative interrogation methods, President Bush claimed that the CIA may need to use harsh tactics, calling these methods “one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror.” The president even contends that these techniques have “a proven track record of keeping America safe.” Congress failed to override his veto.

By the way, when you hear, in the coming months, that there’s no difference between Democrats and Republicans, bear in mind that all but 5 Republicans voted to allow the CIA to use waterboarding, and other interrogation techniques that are tantamount to torture. It’s time to give a dishonorable discharge to those whose flagrant contempt of human rights hide behind four letter words like “safe.”

How can we not ask what Alyssa Peterson, who witnessed these methods being used firsthand and then turned her gun on herself when forced to participate, response might be to the president’s claim that techniques like waterboarding are “valuable tools?” Peterson was a career intelligence officer.

Likewise, how can we not help but ask what Army colonel Ted Westhusing’s response to the president’s claims that torture keeps America safe would be.

Westhusing, a full professor at West Point whose specialty had been military ethics, was “the highest ranking officer to die in Iraq,” and he died by his own hand leaving a suicide note, redacted by his superiors, which implicates his commanders, General Petraeus and Major General Joseph Fil. The note says simply “I cannot support a mission that leads to corruption, human rights abuses and liars. I am sullied–no more…I came to serve honorably and feel dishonored.” His widow suggests that her husband chose to end his life so that others could see “what was going on” in Iraq. (E & P)

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is now considering a new measure, HR 1352, the Torture Outsourcing Prevention Act, which will not only require the Secretary of State to give Congress an annual rundown of those countries known to practice torture (including our own, according to Canada), but prohibit the U.S. from extraordinary rendition—transferring detainees, whether directly or otherwise, from countries where torture is officially prohibited to those that allow for torture.

Should this legislation pass, British citizen Mohamed, who was rendered from Pakistan to Morocco to Guantanamo Bay, won’t be the only one to benefit. We will no longer associate military suicide with an honor society for interrogators, and career officers, who have themselves become casualties of a war without ethics, and without end.

Often, there is more courage in refusal, and defection than in resignation, and compliance. And, to those military interrogators who persist in going along for the ride, remember, in the words of Rev. Martin Luther King, “A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent.”

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